“春节”溯源

春节是中国最富有特色的传统节日。它标志农历旧的一年结束。新的一年已经开始。人们将告别寒冷单调的冬季，迎接生机盎然的春天。

Spring Festival is the most distinctive traditional festival in China. It marks the end of the old lunar year. The new year has begun. People will bid farewell to the cold and monotonous winter and welcome the vigorous spring.

春节原名“元旦”，隋代杜台卿在《五烛宝典》中说：“正月为端月，其一日为元日，亦云正朝，亦云元朔。”“元”的本意为“头”，后引申为“开始”，因为这一天是一年的头一天，春季的头一天，正月的头一天，所以称为“三元”；因为这一天还是岁之朝，月之朝，日之朝，所以又称“三朝”；又因为它是第一个朔日，所以又称“元朔”。宋代的吴自牧在《梦梁录》中解释：“正月朔日，谓之元旦。”《说文解字》中对“旦”字的解释为“从日见一上，一，地也”，表示太阳刚刚从地平线上升起，就是早晨的意思。因为它分别表示一年的第一个早晨，正月的第一个早晨，所以称“元旦”和“正旦”。除上述称谓外，春节还称“开年”、“开岁”、“芳岁”、“华岁”等，在诸多称谓中以称“元旦”最普遍，时间最长久。

The original name of the Spring Festival was "New Year's Day". Du Taiqing of the Sui Dynasty said in the five candle Dictionary: "the first month is the end month, one of which is the new year's day, which is also the cloud Dynasty and the cloud new moon." The original meaning of "Yuan" is "head", later extended to "start", because this day is the first day of the year, the first day of spring, the first day of the first month, so it is called "three yuan"; because this day is still the year's day, the month's day and the day's day, so it is also called "Three Dynasties"; also because it is the first new day, so it is also called "Yuanshuo". In menglianglu, Wu Zimu of Song Dynasty explained: "the new year's Day is the new year's day of the first month." In Shuowen Jiezi, the word "Dan" is interpreted as "from the sunrise to the earth", which means that the sun just rises from the horizon, that is, the morning. Because it represents the first morning of the year and the first morning of the first month, it is called "New Year's Day" and "New Year's Day". In addition to the above appellations, Spring Festival is also called "new year", "new year", "Fangsui", "Huasui", etc. among many appellations, "New Year's Day" is the most common and the longest.

“春节”这一词，在不同的历史时期，还有不同的特指。汉朝时，人们把二十四节气的第一个立春称“春节”。南北朝时，人们把整个春季叫“春节”。辛亥革命胜利后，南京临时政府为了顺应农时和便于统计，规定在民间使用夏历，在政府机关、厂矿、学校和团体中实行公历，以公历的元月一日为元旦。但一般人称公历元月一日为“阳历年”，仍把农历正月一日初一称“元旦”。

In different historical periods, the term "Spring Festival" also has different specific meanings. In the Han Dynasty, the first spring of the 24 solar terms was called "Spring Festival". In the northern and Southern Dynasties, people called the whole spring "Spring Festival". After the victory of the 1911 Revolution, in order to conform to the lunar time and facilitate statistics, the Nanjing provisional government stipulated that the Gregorian calendar should be used by the people in government organs, factories, mines, schools and organizations, with the first day of the Gregorian calendar as the new year's day. However, the first day of the first day of the first lunar month is generally called "the year of the Gregorian calendar", and the first day of the first lunar month is still called "the new year's Day".

1949年9月27日，中国人民政治协商会议第一届全体会议通过使用世界上通用的公历纪元，把公历即阳历的元月一日定为元旦，为新年；因为农历正月初一通常都在立春前后，因而把农历正月初一定为“春节”。春节一般指除夕和正月初一。但在民间，传统意义上的春节是指从腊月初八的腊祭或腊月二十三的祭灶，一直到正月十五，其中以除夕和正月初一为高潮。在春节这一传统节日期间，我国的汉族和大多数少数民族都有要举行各种活动以示庆祝。

On September 27, 1949, the first plenary session of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) adopted the universal Gregorian calendar era in the world to designate the first day of the lunar new year as new year's day and new year's day. Because the first day of the first lunar month is usually around the beginning of spring, the first day of the first lunar month is defined as "Spring Festival". Spring Festival generally refers to new year's Eve and the first day of the first month. But in the folk, the traditional meaning of the Spring Festival is from the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month or the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, with the new year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month as the climax. During the traditional festival of Spring Festival, the Han nationality and most ethnic minorities in China have to hold various activities to celebrate.